{"id":102179,"date":"2016-06-21T10:07:48","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T14:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=102179"},"modified":"2024-07-01T16:49:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T20:49:44","slug":"multimedia-the-major-bates-college-stories-of-2015-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2016\/06\/21\/multimedia-the-major-bates-college-stories-of-2015-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Multimedia: The major stories at Bates College in 2015-16"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the college’s academic year coming to its official close on June 30, here\u2019s a selection of top stories from the 2015-16 college year, told in text, photographs, and video.<\/p>\n

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Table of Contents<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Largest gift ever<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Civil rights icon John Lewis speaks at Commencement<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. 14 Bates Fulbrights<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Neuroscientist wins $720K \u201cmost prestigious\u201d award<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. \u201cLet\u2019s debate the data\u201d on police use of force<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Women’s rowing builds on national success<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Lewiston’s Basilica hosts Bates-produced musical spectacular<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Judith Isaacson \u201965, Holocaust survivor and author, passes away<\/a><\/li>\n
  9. MLK Day address: Racial progress can \u201csow seeds of regression\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n
  10. Women\u2019s lacrosse delivers a spring surprise<\/a><\/li>\n
  11. Robert Indiana’s \u201cLike a Rolling Stone” prints debut at Bates<\/a><\/li>\n
  12. A second straight squash title<\/a><\/li>\n
  13. Bates and the Declaration of Independence share the same magic<\/a><\/li>\n
  14. Chick Leahey \u201952, baseball coach and mentor, passes away<\/a><\/li>\n
  15. Bates convenes national summit on race in higher education<\/a><\/li>\n
  16. Biochemist wins $345K Lyme bacteria grant and Bates teaching prize<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    Largest gift ever leads $19 million in donations for professorships and Digital and Computational Studies program<\/h3>\n

    In February, Bates announced gifts of $19 million<\/a> from seven families to create six new endowed professorships and launch the college\u2019s new Digital and Computational Studies program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    The new gifts are led by the largest single gift in Bates history, $10 million from Chair of the Board of Trustees Michael Bonney \u201980 and his wife, Alison Grott Bonney \u201980.<\/p>\n

    An example of “what is possible when we pull together to advance this special institution.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    “I have never been more optimistic about the future of the college,” said Michael, praising “the acts of these seven families,” which “demonstrate, in this real and tangible way, what is possible when we pull together to advance this special institution.”<\/p>\n

    \"In<\/a>

    At right, Michael Bonney \u201980 and Alison Grott Bonney \u201980 sit with Mike\u2019s parents, Wes \u201950 and Elaine Bonney, at the February announcement of $19 million in new gifts to Bates, including $10 million from the younger Bonneys. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

    \n

    Civil rights icon John R. Lewis speaks at Commencement: “I want to thank Bates College”<\/h3>\n

    Reflecting and leading the national discussion, Bates convened a number of signature events<\/a> in 2015-16 with strong themes around race, citizenship, and linked issues such as mass incarceration.<\/p>\n

    Tops among them was the\u00a0compelling Commencement address by U.S. Rep. John R. Lewis<\/a>, who began by recognizing a founding father of the modern civil rights movement: Benjamin E. Mays, Bates Class of 1920.<\/p>\n

    Lewis cited Mays\u2019 statement that Bates did not emancipate him, but instead enabled him to emancipate himself, then said that \u201cI want to thank Bates College for what you did, and continue to do, to free and liberate humankind.\u201d<\/p>\n